Jardine criticises Government over disbanding buffer zone working group

Commenting on the Scottish Government’s decision to disband its ministerial working group on buffer zones around abortion clinics, Christine Jardine MP said:

“Disbanding this group must not mean the Scottish Government abdicating their responsibility to show leadership on this issue.

"For years the Scottish Government has dragged its feet on making sure that women who may be going through a traumatic experience are protected from emotional and physical harassment.

As a result we now do much less to support women than in the rest of the UK. “The proposals in Gillian Mackay’s member’s bill should be the base camp, not the summit of our ambition when it comes to protecting and expanding women’s reproductive rights.

“I will continue to press the Scottish Government to remove abortion from criminal law, iron out the kinks in the system preventing women accessing support via telemedicine and ensure that women are able to access abortion in Scotland up to the 24 week limit without facing long journeys to England to receive care.”